1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination connector assembly having plural pairs of female and male connectors arranged for engagement together, and more particularly to a connector assembly of a type such that a plurality of female connectors each individually formed as a single element, as held in position in one holding member, can be accurately brought in engagement with male connectors, which can be advantageously applied for use in an automotive wiring harness or, in particular, in an electronic unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, as electronic components increasingly develops in automobile technology, the number of wiring harness circuits tends to increase and accordingly the number of connectors used in wiring harnesses is steadily increasing. However, the greater the number of wiring harnesses attached to one connector increases, the greater the coupling load develops when male and female connectors are engaged together, resulting in some operational troubles. Another problem is that coupled connectors are likely become half-engaged, which results in a trouble such that electronic components connected through wiring harnesses become inoperative.
As may be appreciated from the above, whereas provision of a large number of terminal receiving chambers in one connector for coupling a large number of wiring harnesses is likely to result in various troubles, decrement in the coupling capacity of one connector necessitates male-female engagement of a large number of connectors which operation is very troublesome. Further, in the latter case, it is necessary to provide a holding mechanism for each connector. This involves considerable complexity in the arrangement of connector setting and greater space therefor, which poses a serious problem especially where connectors are to be set in an electronic unit which requires highly dense and collective arrangement of components.
These problems may be solved by arranging in such a manner that a plurality of connectors, each consisting of a single element having a reduced degree of coupling number, as being held in one holding member, can be brought into engagement in one operation with a plurality of connectors which are similarly held in one holding member.
Through this arrangement it is possible to decrease the number of operations involved and also to solve the problem of greater space requirement.
Such arrangement as mentioned above has already been proposed as disclosed in, for example, the Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-20880.
In the conventional connector assembly proposed in the above publication, a plurality of first connectors are held in a plurality of connector holding portions recessed in a first connector cover while second connectors are similarly held in a plurality of connector holding portions recessed in a second connector cover, where the plural pairs of first and second connectors are fixed together in their mating condition by tightening a clamping bolt which extends through a bolt hole bored in the first connector cover to a bolt guide portions formed in the second connector cover.
However, the above described connector has disadvantages that the adoption of a bolt clamping system involves various fastening parts, such as bolts, washers, and push nuts, which results in increased number of parts and, in turn, increased cost of fabrication. Moreover, since the fastening parts are separated from the connectors, parts management is required with respect to those parts. Further, because of the fact that the fastening parts are composed of metallic parts, the weight of the connector assembly is increased.
Another problem is that the arrangement involves considerable clamping load because connector covers each holding a plurality of connectors are fastened together. This requires a special clamping device, such as an impact device, which involves a considerable complexity in operation.
A further problem is that when clamping is effected by means of such an impact device, considerable impact is applied on the connectors, and more particularly where the connectors come into engagement with a unit component carrying a computer or the like, the impact is transmitted to the unit component with the result that the soldered portions and/or elements of the unit component may be unfavorably affected.
Furthermore, in the conventional connector assembly referred to above, each connector has a very large number of poles, which fact often leads to erroneous terminal setting at the time of assembly of a wiring harness.